Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Cooking the perfect egg may sound like such a simple order, yet this task harbors a wealth of culinary import. Cooking the perfect egg, be it hard-cooked or coddled, is a bit of a culinary feather in one’s cap. However anyone who has taken advanced cooking classes or even gotten an online PhD in one of the sciences knows that the reasons for this are myriad and relate primarily to the egg’s chemistry.

As I was saying… It was great to see all the Chefs milling about the room, talking with each other, sometimes even feeding each other, as well as taking some time to talk with their fans, myself included. Chef Marc Murphy’s Landmarc restaurant in the Time-Warner Center is one of my favorite places in town. A great menu and long hours, breakfast to late night fare. Earlier this year, via another Twitter-related win, I attended the Fête de Campagne at Landmarc, a late-night French country feast. When I showed up at the Landmarc table tonight, their DIrector of Communications had actually remembered me from my tweets! -And she also brought out three bags filled with their house-made caramels. One or two (or 20) may have have found their way into my bag. *If you’re wondering about the bandage on Chef Murphy’s hand, he had just had surgery the night before! -At least it wasn’t his knife hand.

A couple of weeks ago, The Amateur Gourmet himself, Adam Roberts, posted the following tweet on Twitter:
“To win 2 tix 2 the Bid Against Hunger Event in NY on 10/19 (http://bit.ly/d83S2N) Tweet me back as many foods as u can fit that start w/B.”
After having a great time dashing around New York City earlier this year trying to win the AG’s “2nd Annual Foodie Photo Scavenger Hunt” only to come in sixth, I felt I had something to prove. I mean, even Adam called me “fierce”. So, armed with my semi-photographic memory of the table of contents of almost every cookbook I’ve ever read, I tweeted back the following:
“BrieBeanButterBeefBeetBeerBaconBasilBassBagelBarleyBranBread
BisonBlintzBrainsBriocheBorschtBoarBuckleBabaBerryBrothBisqueBLT”
Lo and behold, Victory was mine! -And that’s where this post really begins…

I have always relied on the kindness of strangers. Okay, that’s not quite true. In fact, it’s not true at all. I am terrified of talking to strangers. This Scavenger Hunt forced me to confront this fear head-on. I approached quite a few people with, “Hi, um, could I ask you a favor? See, well…. I’m doing this photo scavenger hunt? And, uh…” And really, only one person flat-out said no. Others ranged from enthusiastic to hesitant to slightly frightened. Luckily, I was able to soothe my social anxiety with hot dogs, hamburgers, chocolate, and dinner at Otto’s

My friend Sally and I spent the last 50 hours of our lives (give or take) traipsing around New York City, making fools of ourselves and eating way too much food…all in the name of this year’s foodie photo hunt. We battled the cold, the wind, and the rain (it was a weird weekend for weather) to get our shots. We also had a blast. Thanks to Adam for challenging us to get off our butts and have an adventure. We’re so glad we did.

Here are my “results” for “The 2nd Annual New York Foodie Photo Scavenger Hunt”:http://www.flickr.com/photos/josespiano/sets/72157624028626192/
I had a great time “gathering” these pictures. I do owe a lot of Thanks to my friends, Allen and Jennifer, for acting as my “official photographers”. However, I also have to Thank the various strangers – New Yorkers, tourists and others – who cheerfully offered to take my picture.
I believe my favorite shot had to be the Flex Mussels one. What a great coincidence that I happened to ask the co-owner and manager of the restaurant to take my picture. I’m glad I waited to ask someone – I had been standing in front of the place for about 10 minutes before I finally got up the nerve to ask Alex and her friend if one of them could take my picture. *And as for potentially most-embarrassing pics: the first Jacques Torres and the Fishs Eddy one.

So my friend & I set out to complete this task with many good intentions and then we just didn’t have enough time to squeeze everything in. This was, however, a very fun experience (especially chatting with Doug of the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck).
Without further ado, our pictures are here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/icherri/sets/72157624028867776/

My husband and I are going to NYC this weekend , I have not been there since 2001 , can anyone reccomend a nice place for dinner we like good wine , maybe $30 to $50 a meal .we are staying in Time Square , and I’d like to stay away from the superstar chef places .any help would be greatly appreicated .thanks

Today I took some time to work on some technique and took a shot at deboning a quail. Here is my progression during the whole cooking process. The dish is Mushroom Rosemary Stuffed Quail with Risotto. I used some new tricks I recently learned from a very talented chef here locally. The finished result is shown here and some of the prep is shown after the jump.

[Note from Adam: Every so often, on Twitter, I announce that I’m opening up a Twitter Piano Bar and provide a link to a live video feed and chat so Twitter followers can request songs that they like. This usually happens spontaneously and those who happen to be on Twitter at that moment can come along for the ride. This post comes from one such person: I promise I didn’t pay him.]
The Scene: Warm olive green walls, bright sunlight, and Adam in his signature plaid shirt. A beautiful evening, as a crowd of Amateur Gourmet followers gather in a Ustream.tv chat room (along with Adam’s cat lounging on the bed).